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The pay gap is £2 a week greater than
it was last year despite the fact that public sector workers earning
over £21,000 have been subject to a two-year pay freeze.

To make matters worse for private sector staff, the figures exclude gold-plated pensions that many state workers benefit from.

Although they are now being asked to
contribute more to their pension pots and retire later, their deals
remain among the most generous in the country.

By comparison, the number of private
sector employees with a company pension scheme has collapsed to its
lowest level since records began in 1953. Tory MP David Ruffley, a
senior member of the Treasury Select Committee, said the toxic
combination of the pay gap and ‘fantastically generous’ public sector
pensions will fuel fury.

He added: ‘These figures will probably compound a sense of injustice that many private sector workers feel.’

Mr Ruffley said that workers in the
public sector, who represent around one in five of the workforce, have
not been hit by the pay cuts which hurt the private sector during the
recession.

He added: ‘I know businessmen who say they have had to cut their workers’ pay by 20 per cent or they will go bankrupt.

‘If that is happening in the public sector, I’ve never heard of it.’

The ONS report, an authoritative
survey of earnings based on the salaries of more than 180,000 workers,
shows that state employees’ pay is continuing to rise ahead of private
business employees.

Among the lowest earners, state workers earn £1-an-hour more than those in the private sector

Over the past year, it found that the
average weekly pay of a full-time public sector worker has risen by 1.6
per cent, compared to 1.5 per cent in the private sector.

The rise comes despite millions of
state workers still supposedly being subject to a pay freeze at the time
the data was collected.

Matthew Sinclair, chief executive of
the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group, said: ‘This is further proof
that public sector workers get a much better deal than their
counterparts in the private sector.

‘A bigger pay increase for public
sector workers is surprising, given that taxpayers were promised that
the public finances would be mended with the help of a public sector pay
freeze.

Gender pay gap: Men still earn 9.5 per cent more than women, figures from the Office for National Statistics show

‘What’s more, public sector workers also have shorter working hours, more days off sick and generous taxpayer-funded pensions.’

The ONS said its research shows
private sector workers are more likely than public sector workers to be
paid only the national minimum wage – currently £6.19 per hour for those
aged 21 or over – or close to it.

But those in top jobs in the private
sector can command vastly higher salaries than their counterparts in
the public sector, even though state workers are more likely to be
well-qualified graduates.

A Treasury spokesman said: ‘We welcome the ONS report and rigorous analysis into this issue.

‘The report demonstrates there is a
clear pay premium for public sector workers relative to the private
sector and supports the approach we have taken on public sector pay.’

But public sector trade union Unison
said it was a ‘myth’ that state workers enjoy better salaries, and said
many are fighting an uphill battle ‘just to make ends meet’.